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Comment by okreallywtf | Hacker News Reader

That may be true (I haven't checked), but my guess is that germany (and most other western nations) offer a lot more government services for that level of tax. Taxing the middle class here the same as say, norway doesn't make sense unless you offer the same services. My half-decent insurance plan is one of my biggest monthly expenses and I'm lucky that it doesn't impact me too much. Many other "middle-class" people are barely getting by as it is.

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> Taxing the middle class here the same as say, norway doesn't make sense unless you offer the same services.

My point is that the bellyaching in America is targeted at the wrong thing. It's not about how much taxes rich people or corporations pay. That's not why Germany has free education and we don't. It's that a household making $100k pays 20% taxes here and 40% in Germany. That's the major difference between the countries.

Exactly. Lots of talk of taxing the rich, but if you look at other countries, the "rich" are clearly middle class. No other way to raise enough revenue.

You understate how shocking the situation is:

"The U.S. spends more public money on healthcare per capita than Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, France, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. In fact, each year the U.S. government spends $4,197 per person, while the OECD median spend is $3,677."

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-spends-more-public-money-o...

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